Publicpolicy October 2014

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17 participants
10 discussions

[Advocacy Advisors] Questions on Economic Contribution of Public Domain and Open Licensing
by Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov 14 Nov '14

14 Nov '14

Hi all, The IPR Observatory [1] of the European Commission have now officially included a study requested by us with the support of other civil society actors in their 2015 working programme. The study is on "economic contribution of public domain and open licensing". The Observatory has sent us some additional questions now that might be important for the final outcome. I would appreciate any comments/ideas/help in answering those in the best possible way. The questions can be seen in the PDF attachment. Thanks a lot! Dimi [1]https://oami.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/observatory/home

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[Advocacy Advisors] FYI: Relevant event in the European Parliament
by Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov 02 Nov '14

02 Nov '14

Dear all, just a note that there will a workshop called "Cultural Heritage in a Digital Europe" dedicated to copyright reform in the EP. Panelists will include representatives from the publishers (who want to block any reform), IFLA (who are leading the Lyon Declaration initiative) and the Head of Unit "Copyright" (who will oversee the drafting of the reform text). If in Brussels 11 November, you shouldn't miss it! People asking spot-on questions usually helps. [image: cid:image002.png@01CFF212.CB113770] Cheers, Dimi

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[Advocacy Advisors] Position Paper on EU Copyright Reform
by Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov 31 Oct '14

31 Oct '14

Hi all, tl;dr This is to let you know, that our "Position Paper on EU Copyright Reform" [1] has now been signed by 31 organisations and will be send out next week. Signatories We have 31 organisations from 17 European countries that signed it 15 Wikimedia chapters/thematic organisations/user groups 5 Open Knowledge (Foundation) chapters/groups 4 Organisations that primarily work on digital rights 3 Organisations mostly dedicated to free/open knowledge and IP issues 3 Organisations focused on free and open software 1 Open Street Map Foundation national partner Unfortunately, the Open Street Map Foundation wants to sign it (the paper enjoyed vast support within their community) but for organisational reasons it would take them quite a while do so and we shouldn't wait much longer to send it out. Also, at least two more OKFN chapters stated their support for this, but haven't answered since. Soft launch We plan on sending this out to people directly involved in the drafting process of the copyright reform proposal and ask for face-to-face meetings. Trying to get general media attention seems like a waste at this point, As the reform proposal is nowhere near publication at this point. I feel it wold be wasted without (political) impact. Nevertheless, if you feel like sharing this, please feel more than free to do so (social media, blogposts). Brussels Background The new European Commission has its eyes on reforming copyright. The unit responsible for this was moved from the "internal market" directorate (DG MARKT) to the "internet" directorate (DG Connect), sending a rather positive signal. However, there is still considerable struggle within the institutions which way and how far to go. This paper intends to encourage the reform-willing crowd to act. PDF Version I am also attaching a PDF version of the Meta page that will be used in correspondence. Please let me know if you think something is not okay or it can be improved until early next week. Thanks a ton to everyone who helped with this (more than 30 active people by my count)! Cheers, Dimi [1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Position_Paper_on_EU_Copyright

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[Advocacy Advisors] Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development
by Stephen LaPorte 31 Oct '14

31 Oct '14

Hello advocacy advisers, In August, the International Federation of Library Associations published the Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development (http://www. lyondeclaration.org/). The Lyon Declaration is a statement to the member states of the UN about empowering development through access to knowledge. The declaration is particularly relevant for our work as Wikimedians because it recognizes the importance of technology in sharing knowledge. Wikimedia Italy and Wikimedia UK have already signed declaration. We would like the Wikimedia Foundation to join these and others in support of our goal to share knowledge. Please let me know if you have any thoughts about this by November 3, 2014. Thanks, Stephen -- Stephen LaPorte Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation *NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal and ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.*

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[Advocacy Advisors] Blog post on Open Access
by Yana Welinder 21 Oct '14

21 Oct '14

Hi all, Just wanted to let you know that we wrote a guest post for the Open Access week <http://www.openaccessweek.org/>[1] for the EFF blog: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/10/free-open-access-and-wikipedia. We plan to cross-post it to the Wikimedia blog later today and I think that Stanford CIS may cross-post it too. Best, Yana [1] http://www.openaccessweek.org/ -- Yana Welinder Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation 415.839.6885 ext. 6867 @yanatweets <https://twitter.com/yanatweets> NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical reasons I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.

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[Advocacy Advisors] Wikipedia Zero specifically excepted from ban of zero-rating services in Chile
by Cristian Consonni 16 Oct '14

16 Oct '14

(probably this can be commented by more qualified people than myself) TL;DR Chile's government (Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones, SUBTEL) has issued a circular (i.e. an explanation of the law), called circular n. 40[1], earlier in April this year stating that zero-rating go against the Chilean net neutrality law in force (spec. disposition n. 6 and 7. of law n. 18.168)[*]. Today SUBTEL has "confirmed to us [WMF and Wikimedia Chile] that the new order was not intended to prevent Wikipedia Zero and similar free knowledge initiatives" http://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/09/22/chilean-regulator-welcomes-wikipedia-z… Well, in one word this is, for sure, "a thing". Cristian [1] http://www.subtel.gob.cl/transparencia/Perfiles/Transparencia20285/Normativ… [*] {{es}} (end of page 1) "La estructura de la oferta en comento, importan a juicio de esta autoridad una contravención a las normas que en la especie regulan y prohiben conductas discriminatorias de contenidos, aplicaciones o servicios, que integran el principio de Neutralidad de Red contenidas en la normativa sectorial, y en particular al texto del articulo 24o H letra a) de la Ley [dispuesto 6o y 7o de la Ley no. 18,168]" {{en}} "The structure of the offers under scrutiny, imply to the judjement of this authority an infringement of the norms ... which regulate and prohibit conduct of discrimination of contents, applications or services which constitute the principle of Net Neutrality contained in the sectorial norms, and in particular in the text of the article 24th H letter a) of the [aforementioned] law"

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[Advocacy Advisors] Quick notes on Andrus Ansip
by Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov 07 Oct '14

07 Oct '14

Hi all, just to let you know that the second "digital" Commissioner had his hearing last night and to share some impressions with you. Adrus Ansip from Estonia is designated as Vice-President for the Digital Single Market. Overall he appeared well prepared and knowledgeable on the issues he was asked. On copyright reform, the three main points he made were clear enough: *Remove territoriality within the EU (meaning: harmonisation) *Current copyright is prohibitive for text and data mining (meaning: new exceptions/limitations) *Geo-blocking goes against the core of the digital single market. I will work to abolish it. (meaning: again harmonisation) Other interesting points he made included: - *Net Neutrality is important (comment: but then he spoke about search neutrality so I am confused) - *Right to be forgotten must remain an exception (meaning: unclear) - *Access to internet is a human right and we need an internet rights charta (comment: sounds great) - *Data protection is very important (comment: avoided clear wording on what this means) - *Software code produced for the EU must be open source or free software, coding must be part of school curriculum Other than that he talked a lot about paperless administration. In relation to Oettinger (Commissioner-designate for Digital Economy and Society) , he sees himself as the "horizontal" commissioner, while his German colleague is the "vertical" one. My favourite and most re-tweeted sound-bite was: "We have to review our copyright legislation especially in regard to territoriality. This is old-fashioned". Cheers, Dimi

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[Advocacy Advisors] Fwd: [Wmfcc-l] Amendments on Free Licenses and Freedom of Panorama Entered into Force in Russia!
by Luis Villa 03 Oct '14

03 Oct '14

Hi, Vladimir- This is great news; I hope you don't mind that I've forwarded it to the advocacy-advisors mailing list. We've been trying to put together case studies where Wikimedians have been involved in political change, so that we can all learn from each other - what works, what doesn't. Perhaps someone on this list or in the Russian community would be interested in creating one? Thanks - and congratulations! Luis ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Vladimir Medeyko <medeyko(a)gmail.com> Date: Wed, Oct 1, 2014 at 7:06 PM Subject: Amendments on Free Licenses and Freedom of Panorama Entered into Force in Russia! Dear colleagues! *Amendments on Free Licenses and Freedom of Panorama Entered into Force in Russia!* Wikimedia RU congratulates the Russians and all the proponents of the free content with changes in the Russian Civil Code, which are very important for the use of the free content. Particularly, the amendments are extremely important for the Wikipedia internet-enclyclopedia and other projects for the creation and the dissemination of educational and scientific information; and for the free software. The amendments entered into force on October 1st, 2014; Wikimedia RU actively participated in the preparation of the amendments. Among the numerous changes, we should mention: *Open licenses* introduced. It includes free licenses (which are fundamental for the projects like Wikipedia or Linux). The authors of the free content get protection from misuse of their works, and the users get guarantees that no malevalent authors could harm them. *Freedom of panorama* introduced: now it is allowed to make photos in any public territory. The photographers are no more formally offenders, because earlier one was not allowed to sell postcards with modern buildings without the permission of the architect or his successors (despite the fact wrongdoings of this kind were universal). Unfortunately, monuments are not covered by the amendments. It's allowed to publish and store *thesis synopses* in the electronic format. Libraries are allowed to store in the *electronic format* dilapidated works and those scientific and educational works that were not republshed for more the 10 years. «The direct inclusion of the stipulations on the free licenses into the law is a progressive step not only for Russia, but worldwide. There are no specific articles on the free licenses in the other countries' laws, and hence the licenses are still in the grey area there. Actually, the free licenses eploit the archaic tercentenary system of the copyright, that always protected the authors from the readers, for the opposite goal – to protect the readers from the authors. Therefore, without direct regulation, there is too vast judicial discretion, and the free licenses users are not protected perfectly. In the Russian law there are no uncertainties like that anymore. Up to the wording that covers the copyleft clauses as well, that poorly fit the traditional laws.» — explained Wikimedia RU director Vladimir Medeyko. Members of Wikimedia RU worked fiddly on these and other amendments in the Civil Code. Namely: In 2009-2010 the numerous letters with the description of the problems and possible solutions were sent to special State Duma committees. In 2010-2011 the members of Wikimedia RU participated at sessions of the expert groups of the Committee of culture and the Committee of information policy and communications of the State Duma. In april 2011 during the meeting with then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the represenative of Wikimedia RU communicated the problems and possible solutions to him. In 2011-201 the experts from Wikimedia RU made part of the working group of Minitry of Justice. Годах on the free licenses and related laws, and also participated in commissions and other events organized by the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Culure, the Ministry of Education and Science, related to these amendments. In 2012 the representatives of Wikimedia RU participated sessions of the State Duma's working group on the intellectual property, attended to the parliament hearings; in sessions of the Federation Council's on the infromation society proceedings. In 2010-2014 the members of Wikimedia RU participated more than 200 conferences, seminars, round tables, where thay explained problems and ways to legalize the work.\ Hopefully, the foreign legislators will handle free licenses with the due care, and the uncertainty will vanish. -- Luis Villa Deputy General Counsel Wikimedia Foundation 415.839.6885 ext. 6810 *This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical reasons I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.*

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[Advocacy Advisors] CETA [was Re: EU Monitoring Report - September 2014]
by Luis Villa 02 Oct '14

02 Oct '14

On Wed, Oct 1, 2014 at 8:14 AM, Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov < dimitar.parvanov.dimitrov(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > What happened? > The consolidated text of the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA) was released > last week. [9] It contains chapters on IPR and e-commerce and rules on data > protection. It talks a lot about Digital Rights Management, a circumvention > prohibition thereof and a prohibition on software that can be used to > circumvent DRM. It also has an article on IPR enforcement (Article 18), > which foresees the seizure of property on alleged infringers, including > blocking of bank accounts and assets. This sounds a lot like ACTA (I’d say > about 80 percent of the text is identical). It is also intriguing, because > we still have not harmonised copyright and enforcement rules in the EU, > raising the question on what grounds the Commission is negotiating this > with Canada. > There’s also a so-called “follow the money” approach for pursuing > infringers who knowingly violate copyright law. They can be asked to pay > compensations which would include alleged lost profits. > > What comes next? > The major question here is, if this treaty is out of scope for the > European Commission. If it touches upon policies which are not the > exclusive competence of the EU, it would have to be ratified by the > European Parliament, the Council and the parliaments of the 28 Member > States. If it falls within EU law an okay from the Parliament and Council > would be enough. > It is also important in light of the talks on a similar EU-US trade > agreement (TTIP). The negotiation logic in free trade agreements is that if > you offer something to Canada, you’ll have to offer at least the same > conditions to the USA. Is there any good commentary/summary elsewhere on the details of this? And are any of the activist groups trying to organize around it? Luis -- Luis Villa Deputy General Counsel Wikimedia Foundation 415.839.6885 ext. 6810 *This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical reasons I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.*

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[Advocacy Advisors] EU Monitoring Report - September 2014
by Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov 01 Oct '14

01 Oct '14

Hi all, it’s been a frenzy and it ain’t over yet. New people who we have to work with and a copyright reform proposal that is apparently coming within the next 12 months. A very busy Dimi Wikimedia and the EU September 2014 Report tl;dr The new Commissioner for Digital Economy & Society performed unconvincingly in his European Parliament hearing but said he wants to produce a copyright reform proposal in 6 months’ time. While the Commissioners are being checked out by the members of parliament, some of their units are moving offices - most notably for us the copyright unit is moving from DG MARKT to DG CONNECT. This and past reports: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor ToC 1. EP Hearings: Commissioner for Digital Economy & Society Guenther Oettinger 2. Restructuring the EC: Copyright unit moving from MARKT to CONNECT 3. CETA: Released text contains chapters on e-commerce and IPR 4. CJEU: Judgement on digitisation and access to works on libraries 5. Recommended reads ----------------- ----------------- #EPhearings2014 #Oettinger #copyright 1. Hearing of Commissioner for Digital Economy & Society Guenther Oettinger Why is this relevant? One of the top priorities of the new President of the European Commission will be reforming copyright and two Commissioners will be responsible for this: Guenther Oettinger for Digital Economy & Society and Andrus Ansip for the Digital Single Market. From the looks of it Oettinger’s DG will lead the drafting while Ansip’s units will oversee the process. What happened? The hearing took place on Monday during a joint meeting of the EP Committees on Culture and Education (CULT) and Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE). [1] The expectations were that Oettinger, who has never dealt with internet or digital issues and headed the Energy DG in the past five year, will have some problems working himself into the new matter. For the most part, it looked like he’s not as well prepared as he could have been. He fumbled on questions like data protection and internet security (where it became obvious that he doesn’t know the difference between social networks and clouds), net neutrality (where he alternatively voiced support for the EP version, the Commission one and then offered to explain his position somewhere else) and free software (where he admitted he didn’t understand the question). To be fair, he nailed some parts on “Right to be forgotten” and “Data protection”, but the overall feeling was one of “hit and miss” answers and that he lacked a general direction. Brief highlights here: [2] Good news is that he seemed most coherent on copyright. He said he will work out a copyright reform proposal within the next six months. He talked a lot about - and that is a standard Commission position - balancing online access and authors’ rights. Importantly for us, he underlined that borders shouldn’t be visible within the EU and that this must include the digital world. The wording “I support the protection of intellectual property rights, but content must be available everywhere” hints he will seriously look into harmonising exceptions and limitations. However he also mentioned that “in the middle term states won’t relinquish own regulation”. My take is that DG Connect might try to harmonise some of the exceptions now and set a several decades long term for a single copyright title. Similar long transitional periods are known in the EU from harmonisation of driving licenses, for instance. What comes next? Oettinger makes the impression of a highly intelligent and a very experienced Brussels politician who has all the skills it takes to see through an own legislative proposal. The catch here is that he doesn't seem to know what he wants because for the most part he still doesn't know what he's talking about. I still believe that he is a step forward from someone who at this point five years ago already had his mind set on defending narrow IP business interests. Let’s consider him a blank page that we can we still write on. Next Monday the other “digital” Commissioner - Andrus Ansip from Estonia – who will be overseeing the digital single market will be heard.[3] After the hearings are over and people have settled in their new offices and gotten to know their teams we'll be release our Position Paper on EU Copyright to welcome our new partners from the Commission. [4] We're expecting a few more co-signatories in the coming days. I now have heard from at least three independent sources (Commission and Parliament) that the new reform proposal will be done within a year and that they might skip publishing a white paper on the topic first. ----------------- ----------------- #TeamJuncker #POTEC 2. Copyright Unit Moving from MARKT to CONNECT Why is this relevant? This is the unit that will be in charge of the copyright reform, proposal. What happened? So far the entire Intellectual Property Directory, including units on industrial property, copyright and counterfeiting & priacy, was housed in DG MARKT (Internal Market Directorate). [5] It has been announced that the copyright unit will be moving to the Digital Economy & Society DG. [6] The industrial property unit will be staying at MARKT and no one knows yet (including the people working there themselves who I talked to) if the counterfeiting unit is moving as well. What comes next? Packing and unpacking boxes. But seriously, I anticipate two changes: A) Now that copyright will be handle with a DG whose top priority isn’t the Internal Market alone, non-monetary arguments should gain more weight B) Copyright will always remain an inter-disciplinary field, but the competencies seem to be very well defined in this Commission. Last time around we had three Commissioners responsible. Now we have Oettinger drafting and Vice-President Ansip overseeing him. For the roles of the new DGs and their Commissioner see also the mission statements for Ansip [7] and Oettinger [8]. ----------------- ----------------- #CETA #IPR 3. Released EU-Canada trade agreement text contains chapters on e-commerce and IPR Why is this relevant? International agreements can contain chapters on intellectual property rights. These may set standards or enshrine rules that later become virtually untouchable. Since the negotiations are usually conducted in secret, special attention is required when documents are released, as the time for reaction is limited. The massive outcry against treaties like ACTA has Text released, don't know if it is out of scope. contains chapters on e-commerce and IPR rules on data protection negotiation logic in free trade is that: "if you offer something in CETA you have to offer at least the same in TTIP" What happened? The consolidated text of the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA) was released last week. [9] It contains chapters on IPR and e-commerce and rules on data protection. It talks a lot about Digital Rights Management, a circumvention prohibition thereof and a prohibition on software that can be used to circumvent DRM. It also has an article on IPR enforcement (Article 18), which foresees the seizure of property on alleged infringers, including blocking of bank accounts and assets. This sounds a lot like ACTA (I’d say about 80 percent of the text is identical). It is also intriguing, because we still have not harmonised copyright and enforcement rules in the EU, raising the question on what grounds the Commission is negotiating this with Canada. There’s also a so-called “follow the money” approach for pursuing infringers who knowingly violate copyright law. They can be asked to pay compensations which would include alleged lost profits. What comes next? The major question here is, if this treaty is out of scope for the European Commission. If it touches upon policies which are not the exclusive competence of the EU, it would have to be ratified by the European Parliament, the Council and the parliaments of the 28 Member States. If it falls within EU law an okay from the Parliament and Council would be enough. It is also important in light of the talks on a similar EU-US trade agreement (TTIP). The negotiation logic in free trade agreements is that if you offer something to Canada, you’ll have to offer at least the same conditions to the USA. ----------------- ----------------- #digitisation #CJEU 4. CJEU to judge on digitisation and access to works on libraries Why is this relevant? Digitisation and access to knowledge is at the core of what we’re doing. What happened? A court case between a German publisher and the library of the Technical University of Darmstadt was referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. The issue was that the library had digitised a book and was offering its readers on-premises terminals that gave them the possibility to print them out or even copy them to a USB stick. According to German law, the library wouldn’t be allowed to offer simultaneous access to more readers than the copies it has actually acquired. The case with printing and copying onto USB stick is however not clarified and was therefore passed on to the EU court. The court judged [10] that (a) the library may digitise and offer such copies to its readers only if there is no reasonable offer by the publisher and that (b) the library may very well digitise books for preservation and for offering them to its readers on-site. Lastly, it proclaimed that (c) readers might under some circumstances make private copies of books, not distinguishing between hard and digital version here. The user will have to find appropriate copyright exceptions and limitations for doing so, which are not of the library’s concern. Further reading: [11] [12] What comes next? The German Federal Court must now interpret the judgement of the CJEU and rule on the case. ----------------- ----------------- #IT2014EU 5. The Italian Presidency and some relevant texts Here are some interesting texts on IPR issues produced during the Italian Presidency of the Council. There is no particularly pressing issue for us here yet, so consider this rather a recommendation than a must. Jeremy Rifkin: Digital Europe - The Rise of the Internet of Things and the Integration of the single Market [13] Description: Talks about how the “sharing economy” will turn the entire industry upside-down and touches upon pretty much every hot internet issue while discussing it. Italian Presidency Working Paper on Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement [14] Description: Prefer not to say anything here ----------------- ----------------- [1] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/committees/video?event=20140929-14… [2] http://www.vieuws.eu/ict/5-toughest-questions-faced-gunther-oettinger-digit… [3] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/committees/video?event=20141006-18… [4]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Position_Paper_on_EU_Copyright [5]http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/internal_market/departments/index_en.htm [6]http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-984_en.htm [7]http://ec.europa.eu/about/juncker-commission/docs/ansip_en.pdf [8]http://ec.europa.eu/about/juncker-commission/docs/oettinger_en.pdf [9]http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2014/september/tradoc_152806.pdf [10] http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=157511&pageI… [11] http://ipkitten.blogspot.be/2014/02/cjeu-to-decide-on-present-and-future-of… [12] http://www.hlmediacomms.com/2014/09/18/cjeu-renders-judgment-on-digitizing-… [13] https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/sites/digital-agenda/files/discussions/… [14] http://register.consilium.europa.eu/doc/srv?l=EN&f=ST%2013076%202014%20INIT

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Publicpolicy October 2014